I can’t believe Hampton would be protecting Keira so I wonder why he’s not rubbing whatever he knows in my face. Could it be they’re hoping Keira can arrange their freedom? I’ve given her free reign of the house. Has she been down to see them? Have they begun plotting an escape?
Anger builds again at the betrayal. It’s a reminder that Keira isn’t the woman I thought she was.
"No, let her speak," I say, stepping closer. "I'm curious what lies Keira is spinning now."
“It’s nothing.” Lana shirks back.
I draw my gun in one fluid motion, and I level it at Hampton's forehead. “What lies? Or we could handle this the Hampton Kean way.”
The color drains from Hampton's face. Lana makes a strangled sound, pressing herself against him.
"That's what you did to my parents, isn't it?" I continue, stepping closer until the barrel nearly touches Hampton's skin. "No warning. No mercy. Just fire and blood and screams in the night."
My finger caresses the trigger, and I'm surprised by how steady my hand is. Ten years I've waited for this moment. Ten years of nightmares and rage and planning.
"Phoenix," Lana whispers, her voice trembling. "Please."
"Please?" I laugh. "Did my mother say 'please' when your men poured gasoline through our home? Did my father beg when they lit the match?"
Hampton swallows hard. The arrogance that defined him for decades has vanished, replaced by naked fear.
"Nothing to say now?" I press the cold metal harder against his skin.
“No.” His lips press into a thin line, eyes wide and fixed on mine.
"That's what I thought." I lean in close, my voice barely above a whisper. "Remember this feeling, Hampton. This is how my family felt in their final moments. Helpless. Terrified. At your mercy."
I hold the position for several heartbeats, letting the terror sink in. Letting them feel what it's like to have your life balanced on someone else's whim.
Then I step back, gun still trained on them. As much as I’d like to end them, they’re a part of the plan. And Ash would never forgive me.
"You don't deserve a quick death," I say. "You deserve to watch everything you built crumble. You deserve to live with what you've done."
They don’t respond.
“Keira’s lie?” I prompt again.
Hampton starts to open his mouth, but Lana squeezes his hand and speaks instead. “You weren’t her first.”
If she stabbed me in the gut, it wouldn’t hurt as much as those words. But I swallow it down. “And now? Who is she fucking now?”
They exchange glances and then look at me. “We don’t keep up on Keira’s sex life,” Hampton says.
I take a moment to consider what this could mean. Do they know the man and he’s working for them helping Keira plan an escape?
“I’ll find him and kill him. And don’t worry. Keira will pay too.” I exit the basement, blood pounding in my ears. The door clicks shut behind me, sealing Hampton and Lana back in their concrete tomb. Let them rot there.
I return upstairs and am glad the house is quiet. Staff are going about their work. My brothers are handling business elsewhere. I step into my empty office, shutting the world out. The solitude suits me. Gives me space to think.
Why would Lana think it’s important for me to know I wasn’t Keira’s first? To knock down my ego? Make me jealous? It could backfire and cause me to reject Keira, which they don’t want unless they don’t care about Keira. They never seemed like a warm, loving family, so I suppose that’s a possibility. Perhaps they’re just being assholes, not wanting to see Keira survive the ordeal.
The doubt about Keira that's been gnawing at me since I saw her again, since I felt her lips against mine, threatens to surface. For a moment, I allow myself to remember the girl I once knew. The way her eyes lit up when she laughed. How she'd slip notes into my pocket when no one was looking.
You weren’t her first.
It sure as hell felt like I was her first, but how could I know for sure except for what she told me? Did Keira lie to me? That thought brings back memories of the fire. The screams. A decade-long plan to make the Keans pay.
They know they’re fucked. So the only thing I can think is that they’re relying on Keira to save them. I know she hasn’t asked about them or attempted to see them, but that doesn’t mean she’s not planning something. Keira is no innocent young woman anymore. She’s cunning and brave. She could have beena part of my family’s destruction and now, her parents’ only hope of survival.
